Nelda May Waldron

Nelda May Miller was born to Henry & Marjorie Kathleen Miller on April 9, 1936 in Fresno California. She was two years younger than her only other sibling brother Roger Miller born January 25, 1934. They lived a simple life surrounded by family and friends and worked hard. Nelda would help her mother with laundry she would take in from neighbors to help provide. Her mother was crippled from polio as a child so she was used to helping with the housework. Henry retired from Southern California Edison many years before he passed in 1996 that began a multi generation legacy, Roger and then his son also retired from Edison. Marjorie passed in 1998 and Roger in 2008 at 74.

In 1963 Nelda, then a bank teller, married former left hand pitcher for the South Gate Legion Juniors baseball team Ronnie Lee Waldron, then truck driver, and moved into their first home together in Bellflower California. In 1967 they adopted Reese Robert bringing him home before he was a month old and in 1970 their daughter Suzanne Lynette also adopted just weeks old. Eventually they moved to Yorba Linda California where Ronnie owned and operated his own semi-truck and hauled miscellaneous goods across the country gone for weeks at a time while Nelda was a full time mother and sometimes father. She was the room mom, the Cub Scout leader, the (fill in the blank) team mom, the mom that nursed the scraped knee or wiped the tears but also had to be the mom that disciplined and sometimes gave something to cry about. When it came to her kids she was always encouraging, loving, positive, & giving. While Ronnie provided the house Nelda made it a home, no matter where it was it was filled with family and friends and she made everyone feel welcome and she always helped those in need regardless of the situation.

In 1977 they sold the trucks and house in O.C. and moved to Lake Mathews then Riverside in 1984. By this time kids were older and she began working full time for a non-profit organization that helps the families of inmates in California prisons. She raised more money as a director than any other before her and made more of an impact on people’s lives than she ever realized, and she did it all from a manufactured home that sat outside on the grounds of C.I.W. in Norco California. She sacrificed her holidays with her family to make sure these families that came to visit their loved ones got a Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner. She worked selflessly on her own time with stores like Costco & Kmart for donations so every child could get a toy and/or meal. She drove a van to the airport to pick up family flying in for visitations everything she did was about someone else, stranger, family, friend, didn’t matter. It was getting in and out of that van that ended up destroying her knees forcing her retirement and both to be replaced. But by then Ronnie had retired from Pacific Motor Trucking her kids were married and grandchildren started coming. There were road trips to take and camping to do and Disneyland to go to. There were plenty of celebrations to go to, all those friends of the kids she always welcomed into her home, now they welcomed her to theirs for BBQ’s and Birthday Parties and most were there to help them celebrate their 50th Wedding Anniversary in 2013. The happy couple were chauffeured to their daughter and son-in-law’s house in a 50’s red Chevrolet with a just married sign on the back that the grandkids and their friends made where a luau themed party with a fire dancer, hula girl, and even a lei greeting awaited them.

Nelda lived a full ‘rich in love life’ before she passed the morning of December 28, 2016 after a bladder infection turned septic. She is survived by her husband of 53 years Ronnie Waldron of Riverside, her son Reese Waldron, granddaughter Sayge Davis & grandson Matthew Waldron of Fernley Nevada. Her daughter Suzanne Loeffler, (more like a son) Son-in-Law Don Loeffler, grandson Brenton Loeffler and